How can you export the Visual Studio Code extension list?
Visual Studio-CodeVisual Studio-Code Problem Overview
I need to send all my installed extensions to my colleagues. How can I export them?
The extension manager seems to do nothing... It won't install any extension.
Visual Studio-Code Solutions
Solution 1 - Visual Studio-Code
Automatic
If you are looking forward to an easy one-stop tool to do it for you, I would suggest you to look into the Settings Sync extension.
It will allow
- Export of your configuration and extensions
- Share it with coworkers and teams. You can update the configuration. Their settings will auto updated.
Manual
-
Make sure you have the most current version of Visual Studio Code. If you install via a company portal, you might not have the most current version.
-
On machine A
Unix:
code --list-extensions | xargs -L 1 echo code --install-extension
Windows (PowerShell, e. g. using Visual Studio Code's integrated Terminal):
code --list-extensions | % { "code --install-extension $_" }
-
Copy and paste the echo output to machine B
Sample output
code --install-extension Angular.ng-template code --install-extension DSKWRK.vscode-generate-getter-setter code --install-extension EditorConfig.EditorConfig code --install-extension HookyQR.beautify
Please make sure you have the code
command line installed. For more information, please visit Command Line Interface (CLI).
Solution 2 - Visual Studio-Code
I've needed to do this myself a few times - especially when installing on another machine.
Common questions will give you the location of your folder
> Visual Studio Code looks for extensions under your extensions folder .vscode/extensions. Depending on your platform it is located:
Windows %USERPROFILE%\.vscode\extensions
Mac ~/.vscode/extensions
Linux ~/.vscode/extensions
That should show you a list of the extensions.
I've also had success using Visual Studio Code Settings Sync Extension to sync settings to GitHub gist.
In the latest release of Visual Studio Code (May 2016), it is now possible to list the installed extensions on the command line:
code --list-extensions
Solution 3 - Visual Studio-Code
I have developed an extension which will synchronise your all Visual Studio Code settings across multiple instances.
Key Features
- Use your GitHub account token.
- Easy to upload and download on one click.
- Saves all settings and snippets files.
- Upload key: Shift + Alt + U
- Download key: Shift + Alt + D
- Type Sync In Order to View all sync options
It synchronises the
- Settings file
- Keybinding file
- Launch file
- Snippets folder
- Visual Studio Code extensions
Detail Documentation Source
Visual Studio Code Sync ReadMe
Download here: Visual Studio Code Settings Sync
Solution 4 - Visual Studio-Code
Benny's answer
Windows (PowerShell) version ofMachine A:
In the Visual Studio Code PowerShell terminal:
code --list-extensions > extensions.list
Machine B:
-
Copy extension.list to the machine B
-
In the Visual Studio Code PowerShell terminal:
cat extensions.list |% { code --install-extension $_}
Solution 5 - Visual Studio-Code
I used the following command to copy my extensions from Visual Studio Code to Visual Studio Code insiders:
code --list-extensions | xargs -L 1 code-insiders --install-extension
The argument -L 1
allows us to execute the command code-insiders --install-extension
once for each input line generated by code --list-extensions
.
Solution 6 - Visual Studio-Code
For Linux
On the old machine:
code --list-extensions > vscode-extensions.list
On the new machine:
cat vscode-extensions.list | xargs -L 1 code --install-extension
Solution 7 - Visual Studio-Code
Generate a Windows command file (batch) for installing extensions:
for /F "tokens=*" %i in ('code --list-extensions')
do @echo call code --install-extension %i >> install.cmd
Solution 8 - Visual Studio-Code
Dump extensions:
code --list-extensions > extensions.txt
Install extensions with Bash (Linux, OS X and WSL):
cat extensions.txt | xargs code --list-extensions {}
Install extensions on Windows with PowerShell:
cat extensions.txt |% { code --install-extension $_}
Solution 9 - Visual Studio-Code
> https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/extension-gallery#_workspace-recommended-extensions
A better way to share extension list is to create workspace-based extension set for your colleagues.
After generating a list of extensions via code --list-extensions | xargs -L 1 echo code --install-extension
(check your $PATH
contains Visual Studio Code entry C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\bin\
before running code commands), run Extensions: Configure Recommended Extensions (Workspace Folder)
Visual Studio Code command (Ctrl + Shift + P) and put extensions into the generated .vscode/extensions.json
file:
{
"recommendations": [
"eg2.tslint",
"dbaeumer.vscode-eslint",
"msjsdiag.debugger-for-chrome"
]
}
Solution 10 - Visual Studio-Code
If using bash, you can use the following commands:
Export extensions
code --list-extensions |
xargs -L 1 echo code --install-extension |
sed 's/$/ --force/' |
sed '$!s/$/ \&/' > install-extensions.sh
With bash alias:
# eve - export vscode extensions
alias eve="code --list-extensions |
xargs -L 1 echo code --install-extension |
sed 's/$/ --force/' |
sed '\$!s/$/ \&/' > install-extensions.sh"
Just run eve
.
Install extensions
sh install-extensions.sh
Solution 11 - Visual Studio-Code
Open the Visual Studio Code console and write:
code --list-extensions
(or code-insiders --list-extensions
if Visual Studio Code insider is installed)
Then share the command line with colleagues:
code --install-extension {ext1} --install-extension {ext2} --install-extension {extN}
replacing {ext1}
, {ext2}
, ... , {extN}
with the extension you listed
For Visual Studio Code insider: code-insiders --install-extension {ext1} ...
If they copy/paste it in Visual Studio Code command-line terminal, they'll install the shared extensions.
More information on command-line-extension-management.
Solution 12 - Visual Studio-Code
How to export your Visual Studio Code extensions from the terminal. Here is git for that. Maybe this helps somebody.
How to export your Visual Studio Code extensions from the terminal
Note: Unix-like systems only.
- Export your extensions to a shell file:
code --list-extensions | sed -e 's/^/code --install-extension /' > my_vscode_extensions.sh
- Verify your extensions installer file:
less my_vscode_extesions.sh
Install your extensions (optional)
Run your my_vscode_extensions.sh
using a Bash command:
bash my_vscode_extensions.sh
Solution 13 - Visual Studio-Code
Benny's answer on Windows with the Linux subsystem:
code --list-extensions | wsl xargs -L 1 echo code --install-extension
Solution 14 - Visual Studio-Code
There is an Extension Manager extension, that may help. It seems to allow to install a set of extensions specified in the settings.json
.
Solution 15 - Visual Studio-Code
-
code --list-extensions > list
-
sed -i 's/.*/\"&\",/' list
-
Copy contents of file
list
and add to file.vscode/extensions.json
in the"recommendations"
section. -
If
extensions.json
doesn't exist then create a file with the following contents{ "recommendations": [ // Add content of file list here ] }
-
Share the
extensions.json
file and ask another user to add to the.vscode
folder. Visual Studio Code will prompt for installation of extensions.
Solution 16 - Visual Studio-Code
Under windows typically I need to run
cd C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\bin
code.cmd --list-extensions
What you don't do is run the code.exe directly under C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\
Solution 17 - Visual Studio-Code
I opened the Visual Studio Code extensions folder and executed:
find * -maxdepth 2 -name "package.json" | xargs grep "name"
That gives you a list from which you can extract the extension names.
Solution 18 - Visual Studio-Code
Now there's a feature still in preview that allows you to sign in with a Microsoft or GitHub account and have your settings synced without any additional extension. It's pretty simple and straigh-forward. You can learn more here.
Solution 19 - Visual Studio-Code
If you intend to share workspace extensions configuration across a team, you should look into the Recommended Extensions feature of Visual Studio Code.
To generate this file, open the command pallet > Configure Recommended Extensions (Workspace Folder)
. From there, if you wanted to get all of your current extensions and put them in here, you could use the --list-extensions
stuff mentioned in other answers, but add some AWK script to make it paste-able into a JSON array (you can get more or less advanced with this as you please - this is just a quick example):
code --list-extensions | awk '{ print "\""$0"\"\,"}'
The advantage of this method is that your team-wide workspace configuration can be checked into source control. With this file present in a project, when the project is opened Visual Studio Code will notify the user that there are recommended extensions to install (if they don't already have them) and can install them all with a single button press.
Solution 20 - Visual Studio-Code
For those that are wondering how to copy your extensions from Visual Studio Code to Visual Studio Code insiders, use this modification of Benny's answer:
code --list-extensions | xargs -L 1 echo code-insiders --install-extension
Solution 21 - Visual Studio-Code
If you would like to transfer all the extensions from code
to code-insiders
or vice versa, here is what worked for me from Git Bash.
code --list-extensions | xargs -L 1 code-insiders --install-extension
This will install all the missing extensions and skip the installed ones. After that, you will need to close and reopen Visual Studio Code.
Similarly, you can transfer extensions from code-insiders
to code
with the following:
code-insiders --list-extensions | xargs -L 1 code --install-extension
Solution 22 - Visual Studio-Code
For Linux/Mac only, export the installed Visual Studio Code extensions in the form of an installation script. It's a Z shell (Zsh) script, but it may run in Bash as well.
https://gist.github.com/jvlad/6c92178bbfd1906b7d83c69780ee4630